Debate on Mandatory Voting

Ralph Nader hosted a debate between Norm Ornstein and Fred Smith on mandatory voting. Mr. Ornstein criticized the influence of vocal minorities in politics as expressed through the vote. He suggested mandatory voting would re-instill a sense of patriotism and lead to a more moderate group of elected representatives. Fred Smith suggested that any sort of mandate would represent a loss of freedom, would be hard to enforce, and would be subject to abuse. close

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*The transcript for this program was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.